Karolinska Hospital to Become First in Sweden to Offer Advanced RapidArc Cancer Treatments from Varian Medical Systems

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm will become the first in Sweden to offer cancer patients advanced RapidArc(TM) treatments from Varian Medical Systems . Three RapidArc systems have been ordered along with four replacement Clinac(R) linear accelerators as moves continue to consolidate the city's radiotherapy software and hardware into an integrated network for greater efficiency.

The orders for three Clinac(R) iX accelerators with On-Board Imager(R) accessories and a low energy Clinac 6EX device, along with attendant software and additional On-Board Imager retrofits as well as the three RapidArc systems, were placed at the end of December and the first two of these machines have already been installed. The intention is for every Varian linear accelerator at Karolinska to have On-Board Imager devices to allow advanced image-guided radiotherapy.

RapidArc quickly delivers a complete volumetric treatment in a single arc of the treatment machine around the patient and makes it possible to deliver advanced image-guided, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) two to eight times faster than is possible with conventional IMRT or helical tomotherapy.

"We are very much looking forward to offering our patients this exciting new treatment, which makes highly-conformal IMRT simpler and faster to deliver," says Aris Tilikidis, chief physicist at Karolinska University Hospital, who added that RapidArc treatments at Karolinska would commence in the summer.

The decision to acquire Varian linear accelerators to replace ageing machines came after a comprehensive European tender process. "It is extremely important that we can integrate our activities across sites and this decision enables us to continue that integration as well as offer the latest and most advanced treatment techniques for the benefit of our patients," adds Aris Tilikidis.

Hundreds of cancer patients are treated daily on 12 linear accelerators at the three sites that comprise Karolinska University Hospital. Varian's ARIA(TM) oncology information system and Eclipse(TM) treatment planning software have been installed across the network over the past year to unify activities at the main Karolinska, South and Danderyd Hospitals.

Sten Hornsleth, Varian's Scandinavian regional manager, said, "This prestigious customer has selected Varian because of our advanced products, our focus on integration and our reputation for reliability and good service. These are the qualities that enabled Varian to be the preferred supplier for radiotherapy projects in Scandinavia last year.

"We value our relationship with such a world leader in the field of cancer treatment and we look forward to working closely with Karolinska as they continue to offer their patients the most advanced radiotherapy treatments available."

Editorial contact: Neil Madle, Varian Medical Systems, +44 7786 526068, neil.madle@varian.com

About Varian Medical Systems

Varian Medical Systems, Inc., of Palo Alto, California, is the world's leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, proton therapy, and brachytherapy. The company supplies informatics software for managing comprehensive cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers and medical oncology practices. Varian is a premier supplier of tubes and digital detectors for X-ray imaging in medical, scientific, and industrial applications and also supplies X-ray imaging products for cargo screening and industrial inspection. Varian Medical Systems employs approximately 4,600 people who are located at manufacturing sites in North America and Europe and in its 60 sales and support offices around the world. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com/.

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